RAS question
The Business Advisory Committee of Parliament:
Correct answer: (B) Regulates the time-table of the House and allocates time for discussion of various bills and motions.
The Business Advisory Committee of Parliament regulates the House timetable and allocates time for discussing different Bills and motions.
Explanation
The Business Advisory Committee is concerned with the management of parliamentary time, not with executive policy or administration. It regulates the House timetable and allocates time for discussion of Bills and motions. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat resume records this function: during the 265th Session, five meetings of the Business Advisory Committee were held to allocate time for Government Legislative and other Business, and its recommendations were reported to the House. The same official record notes that the Committee had allotted 20 hours for the general discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25 and the Budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir 2024-25. In Lok Sabha, the Speaker chairs it with 15 members; in Rajya Sabha, the Chairman heads it with 11 members.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The committee manages the House's business timetable; it is not an advisory body to the Prime Minister on economic matters.
- (C) Managing government companies is an executive or administrative function, whereas the committee allocates parliamentary time for business in the House.
- (D) The committee does not decide government business policies; it schedules and allocates time for parliamentary discussion of business such as Bills and motions.
Concept
This tests parliamentary committees under Indian polity, especially the difference between committees that manage House procedure and bodies that shape executive policy. It recurs in RAS because questions often ask the exact function, composition and presiding authority of important parliamentary committees.